One more person, Vangapally Srinivas, was arrested by the Osmania University police on Wednesday in connection with the assault on Journalism Department professor K. Narender.
The attack on the professor in front of his colleagues and OU Vice-Chancellor S. Satyanarayana in the V-C chambers a few weeks ago kicked off a row with the university teachers going on an agitation path expressing concerns over their safety. The bone of contention was the procedures to be adopted for admitting students into Ph.D.
During one such instance on December 17, a group of students mobbed the professor in the Journalism Department.
Later, when the professor along with his other colleagues went to the OU V-C chamber, a student named Pala Alexander allegedly attacked Mr. Narender even as other professors and the V-C watched.
The OU V-C later lodged a complaint with the police who registered a criminal case. The police arrested Alexander the next day. “During investigation, it was found that Vangapally Srinivas instigated Alexander to attack the professor and hence he too was arrested,” the OU Inspector P. Ashok said.
Sections 332 (attacking a public servant to deter from discharging duty) and 109 (abetment) of Indian Penal Code were invoked against Srinivas.
He was presented before a local court and remanded in judicial custody.